General CoderDojo Press – February 2015

12 February 2015 · by Annabel Cleary

Why teaching coding to kids matters (even more so in Europe)

12th February – Europe

As an understanding of ICT is a requirement in nearly 90% of professional occupations, embedding coding skills in both formal and non formal education should become a priority – especially in Europe where a massive shortage of tech workers is looming

As technology becomes further integrated within our society, it has become increasingly important for young people to understand the world around them. Few stakeholders in employment and learning doubt the importance or relevance of learning programming.

Computing is not just for boys – software is part of all our lives

Shouldn’t we all have equal input into how software solutions are designed?

The gender imbalance in girls taking higher-level ICT (Information, Communications & Technology) courses suggests that many of them are put off a career where there are huge opportunities. But girls should not be discouraged.

An estimated 44,500 job openings are forecast in the ICT sector in Ireland over the period to 2018. In 2014, only 57pc of demand was met by the domestic market.

It is not only in Ireland. The skills shortage for IT professionals is a worldwide phenomenon. In the United States, there will be one million more jobs than students by 2020.

Want to learn to write code? Here’s how…

17th February – Ireland

ON THE EIGHTH of December last year Barack Obama wore a Code.org hat and wrote a line of Javascript. The hat didn’t particularly suit him and the code he wrote wasn’t particularly meaningful, but I suspect the symbolism of POTUS being taught to write code by kids wasn’t lost on many.

From minors to ministers, the explosion of programming initiatives in Ireland has caught the attention of the nation; those evangelising the art point to the benefits of understanding how software is made, whether or not you build it for a living.